Local News

On Saturday 21st May 2011 at approximately 2305 Dundonald SNT officers arrested two males who had been seen attempting to break the lock on a blue bicycle from the cycle rack opposite Wimbledon Police Station, Queens Road SW19 whilst a third male acted as a lookout. The third male has now also been arrested. Searches of their addresses have recovered the bolt croppers believed used to break the cycle locks and 5 bikes, of which three have been identified as having been stolen locally. Neither of the identified victims knew their bike’s frame number and all had used flexi cable bike locks. According to the British crime survey over two thirds of all cycle thefts within the UK are from peoples houses. The reduction of theft crime is a borough priority and pedal cycles count for a high proportion of these offences, including burglary where bicycles are stolen from sheds or gardens. A bicycle is stolen every 71 seconds in the UK Purchase a quality lock. Strengths of pedal cycle locks vary enormously and you get what you pay for. A pedal cycle lock will deter opportunistic thieves; using more than one lock will make stealing your pedal cycle even harder. When locking your pedal cycle make sure you lock the frame and both wheels to the stand or a strong immovable object. Weak locks are unlikely to deter offenders (cables and coil locks under 10mm are particularly vulnerable to cutting). Many pedal cycles reported stolen are locked inadequately. Locks are not for life. Make sure you keep your security up to date for your pedal cycle. -Always lock your pedal cycle up when leaving it unattended – even if it is only for a few minutes. -Lock pedal cycles through the frame and secure both the wheels, especially if you have quick release wheels. Quick release wheels are not only quick release for the owner but for a opportunistic thief as well making it easier for them to steal your pedal cycle or even just your wheels, so make sure your lock fully secures your wheels. -Remove small parts and accessories from your pedal cycle that can’t be secured, especially lights, pumps and quick release saddles. Frame number Keeping a record of your pedal cycle frame number will greatly increase our chances of identifying it as your stolen bike and reuniting you with it. Make sure you register your pedal cycle frame number on www.immobilise.com. If your bike is distinctive or of high value then it t is also worth taking a photograph of your pedal cycle which can be given to police if your pedal cycle is ever stolen; this is especially worth doing for high value pedal cycles. Immobilise is the National Property Register promoted by Police forces throughout the UK and is the largest service of its type in the world with over 18 million UK subscribers. It is a free service that allows the public to record property ownership by make, model, serial numbers and photos. It is then simple to use the account to inform the UK Police, insurers and the second-hand trade of loss or theft of any registered item Insurance Make sure you get insurance for your pedal cycle. Check if your house insurance already covers your pedal cycle when away from home, and also whether the total value of the pedal cycle is covered. If your pedal cycle is of particular value you may need to insure it separately. Thank you, Sgt Jeff New Dundonald Safer Neighbourhoods Team 0208 721 2450 Dundonald.snt@met.police.uk
Message sent at May 25, 2011 10:29

http://communitysafe.gov.uk/articles/5731

This email was sent to marcus@marcus-beale.co.uk
http://communitysafe.gov.uk/terms

There are lots of fruit trees around Wimbledon, but many are not picked and fruit is wasted. Abundance Wimbledon is a project to encourage people to use the fruit or give it away.

There are various ways to help. If you have a fruit tree in your garden, then let us know and donate the surplus to Abundance. We will distribute it, particularly to schools and people who can’t afford fresh fruit. If you need help to harvest, maybe we can lend a hand.

We need volunteers to help with picking fruit. Also, we are holding a Fruit Day on September 17th at St Mark’s Church, with fruit-pressing and other fruit-related stalls. Maybe you have ideas about what to put on a stall, have skills in baking/preserving fruit or have other ideas for using the fruit. We need help to organise this.

Contact us at abundancewimbledon@gmail.com or phone Juliet 0208 946 2514/ Joyce 020 8946 3750.

Abundance Wimbledon was formed when some local people got together for this project, and includes people from St Mark’s Church, Bishop Gilpin School, Wimbledon Park Residents’ Association and Transition Town Wimbledon.

www.jigsawplayers.com

jigsawplayers@gmail.com

07738 707 516

Ticket prices::£12, £10 concessions, £5 students, free under 18.

Venue: Christ Church West Wimbledon, 16 Copse Hill, London SW20 0HG

Described as ’thrilling’ and ’magnificent’, the Jigsaw Players are a compelling group of professional classical musicians bringing chamber music concerts of an exceptionally high quality to the Wimbledon area.

The musicians for each programme are drawn from a pool of players, each of them concert and recording artists who play regularly at the top London venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall. The musicians are international prize winners and/or members of London’s leading orchestras and chamber ensembles such as the London Philharmonic, London Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestras; Doric and Aronowitz Ensembles.

The Jigsaw Players have established themselves over the last two seasons as an important part of Wimbledon’s musical scene. They have gained the support of the Community as well as of prestigious Patrons such as V. Jurowski, Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and critically acclaimed pianist J-Y. Thibaudet.

This will be a unique concert combining a photographyt exhibition by Caroline Stone and a concert featuring Stravinsky “Suite Italienne”, Beethoven “Ghost” trio Op. 70 and Faure’s 1st piano quartet Op.15 n.1

Grants of up to £200 are available for unfunded, volunteer-led community groups working in Merton. Merton Voluntary Service Council is administering this scheme on behalf of the London Borough of Merton.

Examples of previous successful bids include:

Guild of St Gerard Majella awarded £200 towards publicity and social activities for older people
Mitcham Green Community & Heritage awarded £200 towards producing a booklet about the history of the Cricket Green area
Womens Auxiliary Air Force Association awarded £150 towards a celebration lunch
The Go Forum awarded £200 towards an activity to raise awareness of International Disabled Peoples Day
Wimbledon Chinese Cultural Group awarded £200 towards a cultural celebration
Arte Pura Capoeira awarded £160 towards purchasing kit for new members trying out Capoeira
Merton Cycling Campaign awarded £105 to produce 3 copies of their newsletter
8th Wimbledon Guides awarded £71 towards transport costs for a camping trip
Young at Heart awarded £200 towards transport for outings for the elderly
Grupo Espanol awarded £200 towards buying play equipment for a parent and toddler group
The deadline for the next round is Friday 11 March 2011.

For an application form and guidelines http://www.mertonconnected.com/small-grants . For more information call Beverley Burton on 020 8685 2277 or email beverley@mvsc.co.uk

Supported by London Borough of Merton’s Community Development Fund

WANDLE VALLEY FESTIVAL – THE FUTURE – COMMENTS REQUESTED!

www.wandlevalleyfestival.org.uk

The Wandle Valley Festival is an annual weekend event which takes place along the length of the River Wandle. It increases public awareness, involvement and a feeling of ‘ownership’ of the ecology, cultural and heritage aspects of the area, the work which is being done by many organisations and the concept of a Wandle Valley Regional Park.

State of the Festival as of August 2010
This year’s Festival was the seventh year and attracted an estimated 4,500 people on the 5th/6th of June and the additional free school add-on activities during the following week.

Sixty organisations/individuals (along with many additional volunteers) were involved in designing and running 85 activities along the river. Activities are aimed at adults, young people and children.

Site-based activities were in Wandsworth, Merton and Sutton. Croydon participated in 2009.

Feedback
Festival evaluation is always carried out as well as getting informal feedback. Public feedback was very positive. The wide range of ‘taster’ ecology/cultural and heritage activities seem to genuinely interest and enthuse people and activity organisers are often asked how members of the public can be more involved in aspects of ongoing Wandle work.
Feedback from participating organisations was also positive. Large and smaller orgs and individuals have had the opportunity to show not only what they do, but to try new activity ideas related to their work.

Activities
The variety and uptake of walks is definitely on the increase each year.

The variety of arts/crafts and wildlife activities is also growing.

Cycle rides still attract those from cycle clubs such as Pollards’ Hill and Sutton Family Cycling clubs. However, both groups have said that they seldom attract people outside their membership.
The cycle ride from Wandsworth to Morden Hall Park does attract different people.

The number of Sports/Healthy Living activities has increased over the last 2 years. Some of these have attracted good attendance; others less so.
Publications/resources
Over the past three years, we have produced:
River Wandle Wildlife Guide
Mills of the River Wandle
Set of 12 Wandle Story Boards on topics: Fish and Animals, Birds, Plants, Invasive Species, Pollution Monitoring, Heritage (for each of Wandsworth,. Merton, Sutton)

These colourful and user-friendly resources have been very well received by both the public and other organisations. The booklets provide some income and are sold through local museums, the NT, other local venues.

The story boards were created as a pilot. Possible ongoing display uses include events, schools, libraries and as permanent displays along the Wandle.

Publicity
The event booklet gives a dynamic overview of what is happening all along the river. Also, the booklet contains not only activity info but, importantly, contact details for all participating organisations/individuals so that they can be contacted after the event.

The website has received very good ‘reviews’ and seems to be well accessed. Activities are listed by borough and by topic.

All participating organisations have a link on the website and it has been suggested that the story boards might also be on the site.

Funding
Almost all Wandle Festival activities are free. Free activities have been the principle of the Festival since the beginning. This means that many small organisations can have an activity which accurately represents what they do (as opposed to finding an aspect of their organisation which they can ‘sell’) and are represented on the same footing as the larger organisations. However, for this principle to remain, it does mean that funds have to be raised to supplement these activities.

The exception to the ‘all free’ activities is one or two sports activities which charge a small (ie. £5) fee b/c of the number of qualified people needed to run the activity and/or infrastructure costs.

Participating organisations can/do sell their own booklets etc at events.

Larger organisations often do fund their own activities for the Festival.

Funding for infrastructure costs such as the event booklet, banners, posters etc as well as for some activities such as school add-on days has come from large charities such as City Bridge Trust (3 year grant); Awards for All, Thames Community Foundation as well as smaller donations (money or ‘in-kind’ from Sutton and South East Water, Wandle Heritage, Wandle Industrial Museum, Waitrose, CO-OP. Several of the larger funders will have to be replaced for the next year or two. Currently, time to secure funding is covered by volunteers.

Local authorities have contributed to the cost of activities in their area. There is the valuable involvement of some LA staff in organising activities in their area.

It has sometimes been suggested that the Festival could be more financially self-sustaining if it became a more general ‘green’ event; charged for holding an stall/activity; had more commercial (ie. food or product ) stalls.

Discussion and feedback from participating organisations and attendees concluded that these measures would :
• activity emphasis on selling things as is the case for most ‘festivals’, including ‘green’ festivals, rather than drawing people to Wandle Issues.
• prevent smaller organisations from being equally represented for the work they do along the River Wandle
• divert the focus away from the River Wandle specifically. In our opinion, this focus is crucial when looking at the longer term regional park bid.

The big question: to be or not to be?
The Wandle Festival has played an important part in highlighting the River Wandle, the issues and a wide range of organisations over the past 7 years.

It could be that an annual event is no longer needed because:

• there are more and a wider variety of organisations now operating along the river than when the Festival was first held in 2004
• the relevant LAs have now acknowledged the importance of the ecology, culture and heritage of the River Wandle and have jointly committed to the development of a Regional Park
• attendance at activities run by organisations throughout the year seems to show that many more people are now familiar with and are keen to participate in aspects of the Wandle area

If it is felt that an annual event is no longer necessary b/c of the increased profile of the area and the increasing and varied number of organisations working along the river then it might be that future awareness/public participation activities could consist of:
• a designated day of cycle rides, walks and possibly healthy living activities all along the river
• each LA area choosing when to have a Wandle-based activity day, either as a separate event or as part of something else which is already planned (this is essentially what already happens at Merton Abbey Mills; Sutton has a month-long series of heritage/arts activities in May)
• organisations/LAs promoting the River Wandle and its resources through their own individual relevant programmes

However, a dedicated event incorporating ecology, heritage, cultural activities as well as cycle rides, walks, healthy living activities all along the river does attract local and London-wide publicity which
• helps to raise the profile of the River Wandle
• highlights the resources available to the public
• raises awareness of Wandle-based organisations
• gives an opportunity for any consultations on Wandle issues to take place

An annual event with a specific list of activities and ‘branding’ encourages new community group activities and to helps focus on the area as a whole rather than individual areas/topics.

If retaining the Wandle Valley Festival as a focussed annual event is considered to be of value, resources will need to be found to continue the high standard already established. The event has become so successful that it can no longer be developed each year solely by volunteers.

Key to continuing and developing the Festival (potential includes adding more music and cultural events) would be the appointment of a part-time Festival organiser who would be responsible for fundraising and overall co-ordination. That cost would be around £12- £15k.

To cover infrastructure and publicity costs and funding for small organisations over and above LA contributions, would cost an additional £10k – £11k.

The Trustees of the Wandle Valley Festival charity would greatly value your opinion on the value/feasibility of an annual public event; any comments on the content of this paper and any suggestions for alternatives.

Please contact us with any questions and your comments at wvf@wandle.org or on 020 8672 2073. As the WVRP management group is due to meet in early October, we would appreciate your response by Thursday 30th September.

Vicki Carroll (Chair) John Hawks (Secretary) Su Assinen (Treasurer)
Chris Heels Angela Gorman Clive Spearman-Oxx Clare Riddiford